19 April, 2011

Goodbye, Our Sarah Jane

Elisabeth Sladen, the actress who played Doctor Who's Sarah Jane Smith, died of cancer today.  Russell T. Davies gives a worthy tribute to her here.  All I've got is this clip from YouTube that doesn't do her justice, and some fangirl memories.



She was brilliant.  So very brilliant.  I'd never known her - my obsession with Doctor Who begins with Series 1 - but the instant she appeared on the screen in "School Reunion," I didn't need my friend to tell me she was someone special.  You didn't have to know who she was.  She just blazed out from the screen.

It would have been such an honor to have gotten a chance to meet her.  I have to agree with Steven Moffat:
“Never meet your heroes’ wise people say. They weren’t thinking of Lis Sladen.”
We're all going to miss her terribly.  One of the best companions ever.  She was brilliant.

If scientists ever manage to build an actual TARDIS, I can guarantee there'll be one hell of a queue forming to go back to shake her hand.

1 comment:

Cujo359 said...

Elisabeth Sladen managed to make Sarah Jane a plausible character, sometimes despite the way the role was written. "Plucky girl reporter" was a cliche even back then, but Sarah Jane never became one.